Events

Psyched for Sykes

Nathan Sykes actively engaged with his fans and shared about his experiences | Photo by Klix Photography

Fans were in for a treat when Nathan Sykes came for an exclusive press conference at Ngee Ann Polytechnic

By Sarah Ang

English pop singer Nathan Sykes made a stop at Ngee Ann Polytechnic during his trip to Singapore in June for an exclusive press conference. Organised by campus radio station Radio Heatwave, fans were given the chance to speak to the budding star.

From the moment he stepped into LT73C, fans welcomed Sykes enthusiastically with loud cheers. Even before the press conference officially started, he won the crowd over with his humorous personality.

Sykes regaled the crowd with stories of different fan encounters, both good and bad. In one case, there were even inebriated fans who tried to bust down the door of his hotel room, leaving them sheepish when he saw them at breakfast the next morning. All in all, Sykes recommended for fans to “be nice” when they met him, as it was important to be remembered “for the right reasons”.

Speaking of how his performances with other artists, particularly fellow pop acts Little Mix, Alessia Cara and Meghan Trainor, came to happen, Sykes revealed: “All of them have been really spontaneous. … Everyone wants to perform with their idols and people they look up to.” He added: “I’ll never turn down the chance to sing with someone like Boyz II Men or Stevie Wonder or John Legend.”

Fans were curious about how he carved his path as an artist and he said it was “weird” finding his musical direction since he started his career in a band. He explained that before his solo debut, Sykes was making music for a group but now he makes music for himself alone.

He said: “I wasn’t only establishing my musical direction, I was also establishing myself as an artist for the first time.”

Although he took a bit of time to experiment with different styles and sounds to figure out what suited him best, the rest of his music journey “became very easy, very quickly”.

Sykes ended the conference off with a piece of advice for superstar hopefuls: “What I’ve learnt is just to be positive about as many things as you possibly can. If you tell yourself you could do something, the chances of you doing it are far greater than if you wake up every day telling yourself you can’t do it.”